All our Yesterdays - Cristin Terrill [Review]

This review may contain spoilers.

All our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill

Title: All our Yesterdays

Author: Cristin Terrill

Publisher: Disney Hyperion

Series: Stand-alone

Release Date: September 3rd 2013

Pages: 368

Rating: ★★★1/2

Blurb:

"You have to kill him." 

Imprisoned in the heart of a secret military base, Em has nothing except the voice of the boy in the cell next door and the list of instructions she finds taped inside the drain.

Only Em can complete the final instruction. She’s tried everything to prevent the creation of a time machine that will tear the world apart. She holds the proof: a list she has never seen before, written in her own hand. Each failed attempt in the past has led her to the same terrible present—imprisoned and tortured by a sadistic man called the doctor while war rages outside. 

Marina has loved her best friend James since the day he moved next door when they were children. A gorgeous, introverted science prodigy from one of America’s most famous families, James finally seems to be seeing Marina in a new way, too. But on one disastrous night, James’s life crumbles apart, and with it, Marina’s hopes for their future. Now someone is trying to kill him. Marina will protect James, no matter what. Even if it means opening her eyes to a truth so terrible that she may not survive it. At least not as the girl she once was. 

All Our Yesterdays is a wrenching, brilliantly plotted story of fierce love, unthinkable sacrifice, and the infinite implications of our every choice.

Review:

I received an ARC of this book on Netgalley. This will in no way influence my review. It will always be based on my opinion.

I was so excited when I got my request to read this book was accepted on Netgalley. I had heard so many great things about it and the synopsis - time travel - sounded awesome.
I really had to come into this book, but after that it was amazing.

I can't summarize this book, too much happens. We have two realities in this book. Before: the young Marina, Finn and James and after the older Em and Finn who are trying to kill the 'before' James. The older Em and Finn just have escaped older James, who has become evil, and traveled back to 'before'. I know this maybe sounds weird, just read it and you will understand!

Story

As I said before I had some issues in the beginning of the book. I was confused and that really irritated me. I did not see the connection between Marina and Em and I did not understand it at all when in both Marina and Em's POV a Finn was mentioned. Afterwards I felt pretty stupid about it, but then I could not make sense of it. And there was Marina, in the beginning I found her character immensely irritating. She was this insecure, shallow, spoiled girl who only cared about herself. All of this made me want to DNF it, but I'm really glad that I did not. 
Because after a few chapters I finally found out Em and Marina were the same person and she was actually time travelling, it blew my mind.

I absolutely loved the book after that. The pacing increased and the story immediately got ten times more interesting for me. And because all the time travelling was explained, I wasn't confused anymore. There were lots of twists and new reveals and I was completely hooked.

I did find the ending to be quite weird. I won't spoil it, but there is a paradox that is resolved, but I did not find it logical. I had to read it again to understand it and I still can't really tell how the writer can explain this resolution.

Characters

The characters were just amazing! The two versions of all the characters, before and after, made them very well developed and interesting to read.

The development of Marina's character was so good. She started out as a shallow character and slowly she grew up and became very tolerable. The 'after' Marina, now called Em, was strong, hardened and a true heroine. She had been through so much and she still cared about other people and was just a good person, this made her very likable. 

Finn before and after were both awesome. He was sensitive and supportive, a good friend and later a great boyfriend to Marina. Their romance was not overshadowing the plot, I liked that. 

I really didn't know what to think about James. He was such a nice character before and I could not really imagine him as the 'after' James, cruel and power hungry. He apparently destroyed the country after inventing the time machine and tortured Marina and Finn, but I just could not see that in the heartbroken boy we saw before. That evolution was the only not realistic thing in the book, because I totally believed the time travelling. 

It was really interesting to see the three friends before and after and to see the development and how the future affected them all.

Conclusion

I would have given this book 4 stars, but the beginning and ending made it 3.5 stars. The story, the characters and the time travel concept were amazing. I am definitely going to read this book again, now that I understand everything and see how I like the beginning when not confused.

I would recommend this book to everyone who loves sci-fi books! 

Stars: 3.5 out of 4